Tim Cottrell
Sports Writer/Designer
Posted 11/15 at 01:46 PM
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Finally a week of upsets. Too bad most of them didn’t mean anything.
I hate this season.
Anyway, here are last week’s rankings:
1. Florida
2. Alabama
3. Texas
4. Cincinnati
5. Boise State
6. TCU
7. Georgia Tech
8. LSU
9. Ohio State
10. Utah
11. Miami
12. Oregon
13. Iowa
14. USC
15. Pittsburgh
16. Houston
17. Arizona
18. Penn State
19. Oregon State
20. Oklahoma State
21. BYU
22. Wisconsin
23. Stanford
24. Auburn
25. West Virginia
And now, without further ado, this week’s If I Had A Vote Poll.
1. Florida
I’m pretty much back in the “This team’s not hungry” camp.
2. Alabama
Maybe that good performance at Mississippi State will put Greg McElroy back on track.
3. Texas
Call me when they’re in Pasadena.
4. TCU
They beat a very good team to death last night. Let’s not forget that.
5. Cincinnati
Only a couple hurdles left to clear.
6. Boise State
At this point they’re probably rooting for Oregon and Stanford. and whoever TCU has left.
7. Georgia Tech
I’m really not in a position to speak with any authority on this, but the Yellow Jackets might have a decent shot of getting in the title game if Texas somehow loses.
8. Ohio State
They were just lulling us into a false sense of complacency.
9. LSU
Weren’t looking great against La Tech.
10. Pittsburgh
They haven’t proved they deserve it yet, but they deserve it more than anybody else left.
11. Stanford
This is probably a bit too high, but I don’t care. I love me some Jim Harbaugh right now.
12. Oregon
The Ducks are still in the driver’s seat. They’ve just gotta make sure they don’t screw it up.
13. Oklahoma State
Not sure if they’re 13th best, but they’ve got as good a case as anyone else.
14. Oregon State
The Pac-10 is surprisingly strong this year.
15. Iowa
I’m not going to hate on the Hawkeyes as much as everyone else.
16. Penn State
Couldn’t put them ahead of Iowa.
17. Utah
Not gonna punish them too much. TCU is apparently even better than I though.
18. BYU
Maybe getting embarrassed by TCU at home wasn’t all that bad.
19. Wisconsin
They just keep winning.
20. Mississippi
Maybe if they’d played like that all year they wouldn’t be the laughingstock of college football right now.
21. USC
Would drop them lower but didn’t want to put a couple Pac-10 teams ahead of them.
22. California
I wonder if any team has ever moved in and out of the top 25 as much as the Golden Bears.
23. Arizona
Still a good team, just couldn’t get it done.
24. Miami
Kind of wanted to drop them out (and maybe should have), but I’m leaving them in another week at least.
25. Houston
Same as above. They have two awful losses. They also have three good wins. I don’t know what to make of them.
Dropped out: No. 24 Auburn, No. 25 West Virginia
On the radar: West Virginia, Virginia Tech, Clemson, Rutgers, North Carolina
Mike Szvetitz
Sports Editor, Opelika-Auburn News
Posted 11/14 at 11:59 PM
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Auburn lost for the fourth time this season, and for the fourth time in a row to rival Georgia on Saturday night.
Auburn started fast, but hit a wall.
Now, the Tigers have Alabama coming up in two weeks, after a much needed bye week.
How will the rest treat Auburn?
And which team will show up in the Iron Bowl the day after Thanksgiving?
So many questions. I bet you have some of your own.
For now, here’s the beginning of my column that will run in tomorrow’s Opelika-Auburn News.
ATHENS, Ga. – Fear the thumb.
Georgia’s got four in a row over Auburn, and from the looks of this rivalry, the Bulldogs don’t seem to be letting off the gas any time soon.
Even if it’s a new Tiger team, coaching staff and attitude, it’s still the same old Auburn-Georgia game.
Well, for the Bulldogs that is.
The last time Auburn beat Georgia was when Brandon Cox found Devin Aromashodu on a fourth-and-10 play from his own 35.
The last time Auburn beat Georgia was when Courtney Taylor fell on a ball that Aromashodu fumbled into the end zone, 65 yards later.
The last time Auburn beat Georgia is when that play was ruled down at the 3-yard line and John Vaughn kicked the game-winning field goal as time ran out.
The last time Auburn beat Georgia was 2005.
Since, it’s been all Georgia, all the time.
Even if it is a new Auburn team.
Even if Saturday’s game at Sanford Stadium looked like a new page for the Tigers in the Deep South’s oldest rivalry.
Even then.
(Photo credit: Todd J. Van Emst)
Andrew Gribble
Auburn University Beat Reporter
Posted 11/14 at 11:58 PM
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Quite an exciting game here tonight. Unfortunately for the Tigers, it didn’t go their way.
Here’s a sneak preview at what you can find in tomorrow’s Opelika-Auburn News.
The Numbers
145 – Auburn yards of offense in the first quarter
115 – Auburn yards of offense in the second and third quarter.
1 – career receptions for offensive tackle Lee Ziemba after his illegally caught pass, which Georgia declined to accept as a penalty in the third quarter.
202 – kick return yards for Demond Washington, which is 20 more than any other Auburn player has netted in program history.
The Grades
OFFENSE: C- – The first quarter was as electric as the Furman game and it appeared Auburn was destined to put up another basketball score, but the rest was ugly. The unit mustered just 3 points of its own in the final three quarters, as Georgia’s adjustments made life difficult for both Chris Todd and Auburn’s running backs.
DEFENSE: D – Same goes for this group in the first quarter, when it limited the Bulldogs to 5 yards of offense and forced two three-and-outs. Then Georgia adjusted and the Tigers couldn’t stop anything. Georgia scored on all but one of its possessions in the second half, using a deep backfield and every wide receiver other than A.J. Green to burn the Tigers.
SPECIAL TEAMS: A- - Demond Washington’s 99-yard kickoff return for a touchdown eliminated whatever negatives came out of his muffed punt return in the second quarter. Wes Byrum needed some assistance from the uprights to knock in his only field goal attempt and Clinton Durst had a solid night.
OVERALL: D – Eleven games into the season, Auburn finally faced a late-game situation where it was forced to make a play. The result was a failure, of course, but there will be plenty to learn from what transpired heading into the future. Too bad only No. 2 Alabama is left on the regular-season schedule.
The Game Story (abridged)
ATHENS, Ga. – For conceivably every situation that can hit an offense in a game, Gus Malzahn has a play – all the way down to specific times in the game, yard-lines and even hashmarks.
That, though, was before the fourth quarter Saturday night at Sanford Stadium, when Auburn faced a scenario that doesn’t come up in the offensive coordinator’s published book—or anyone’s, for that matter.
With the clock ticking toward the end of Auburn’s 31-24 loss to Georgia, the Tigers’ last-gasp drive was stalled for nearly 15 minutes when Georgia’s Bacarri Rambo was immobilized on a scary helmet-to-shoulder pad hit on Mario Fannin.
“That is just one of those scary situations,” coach Gene Chizik said. “We lived that two weeks ago.”
By the time Rambo was zipped off the field, his thumbs raised with the assistance of two trainers, Georgia’s defense was as refreshed as it had been the entire night, the 92,746 fans in attendance were as ear-bleeding loud as they’d been since the opening kickoff and Auburn’s offense looked just as stumped as it had been since its electric first quarter came to an end.
The final result was predictable.
(Photo credit: Todd Van Emst)
David Morrison
High School Sports Reporter
Posted 11/14 at 08:10 PM
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Auburn 9 7 11 8 — 35
Lanett 2 6 16 13 — 37
AUBURN FG-A 3P-A FT-A PTS. REB. AST. STL. BLK. FOULS
Halle Bentley* 5-13 0-0 0-4 10 10 1 2 0 3
Dee Hall* 1-3 0-0 0-0 2 4 0 0 0 2
Abby Jones* 0-0 0-0 0-2 0 3 4 3 0 3
Kierra Scott* 1-6 1-1 6-6 9 4 5 3 0 3
JeNanc Williams* 5-7 0-0 0-0 10 4 0 0 0 1
Shyannon Haygood 0-0 0-0 1-2 1 0 0 0 0 0
Brittney Strozer 0-3 0-0 0-0 0 1 0 0 0 1
Rachel Stuckwisch 1-2 0-0 1-2 3 0 0 0 0 2
TEAM 6
TOTALS 13-34 1-1 8-16 35 32 10 8 0 15
FG: .382; 3-PT.: 1.000; FT: .500. TOs: 23
LANETT FG-A 3P-A FT-A PTS. REB. AST. STL. BLK. FOULS
Jasmine Dawson* 2-5 0-1 5-6 9 9 1 2 0 2
Jasmine Frazier* 5-16 0-2 2-4 12 4 0 5 0 4
Shamiya Hicks* 2-11 1-6 0-0 5 2 2 3 0 2
Persis Sims* 1-4 0-0 1-4 3 2 0 1 1 2
Jabrea Stiggers* 2-13 1-4 1-2 6 6 3 1 0 1
Alexis Harvey 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 4 0 0 2 1
Mercedes Jackson 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Alexis Jones 1-2 0-1 0-0 2 1 0 0 0 0
TEAM 5
TOTALS 13-52 2-14 9-16 37 33 6 12 3 13
FG: .250; 3-PT.: .143; FT: .563. TOs: 18
* - denotes starter
Andrew Gribble
Auburn University Beat Reporter
Posted 11/14 at 05:09 PM
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A lot of people think Auburn will win this game. We don’t. Georgia 27-24.
We’re coming close to slashing off all SEC campuses and stadiums off our to-do list.
If there were some sort of ranking involved, the University of Georgia would be alone at the top.
The Georgian architecture, hills everywhere you look, trees aplenty and a hopping downtown scene reminds us of the Athens we know best in Ohio.
Ya know, minus the big freaking stadium and booming athletic programs.
Here’s some minutiae.
****Let’s get it out of the way. This is the oldest rivalry in the Deep South—whatever that is. Auburn leads it 53-51-8 and has an 18-10 edge in games played in Athens.
****The two teams are separated by just 49 points (Georgia 1,747-1,698).
****The road team has won nine of the last 14 games.
****There are a few rivalries that have been doing it longer than Auburn and Georgia. They are: Minnesota-Wisconsin, Missouri-Kansas, Nebraska-Kansas, Texas-Texas A&M, Miami (OH)-Cincinnati and North Carolina-Virginia.
****In games decided by seven points or less, Georgia has the advantage, 22-19-8.
****Auburn has had at least one rushing touchdown in 20 consecutive games against Georgia and 31 of the last 32 in the series.
****Let’s catch up with the Auburn offense. It ranks 10th in the nation in rushing offense (230.0), tied for 11th in scoring offense (35.0) and 12th in total offense (450.3).
****Auburn has held four of its last six opponents to less than 25 percent on third-down conversions and ranks 17th nationally in that category.
****Walt McFadden is tied for the SEC lead with four interceptions.
****Three quick “facts” from Wikipedia about the University of Georgia.
- The first classes were held in 1801, in Franklin College—named in honor of Benjamin Franklin—under the direction of President Josiah Meigs; the college graduated its first class on May 31, 1804.
- White and male for the first century of its history, UGA began educating female students during Summer school in 1903 and finally as regular undergraduates in 1918. Before official admission of women to the University, several woman were able to complete graduate degrees through credit earned in Summer school sessions. The first woman to earn such a degree was Mary Lyndon.
- As of 2008, twenty-one UGA students have been named Rhodes Scholars including Eugene T. Booth and Hervey M. Cleckley.
(Photo credit: My BlackBerry)
